UK holds local elections amid storm over new voter ID rules

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Millions of people in England are voting Thursday in local elections, the first test of electoral opinion since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took over a fractious and exhausted Conservative Party six months ago. The Conservatives say they expect to lose ground in elections for more than 8,000 seats on 230 local councils across England as voters punish them for the turmoil that engulfed the party under former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. The election is the first to be held since the government changed the law to require voters show photo identification at polling stations. The government says that will help prevent voter fraud, but critics claim it will stop many young and poorer people from voting.